Can Has Wide Angle

Friday night I had a fitful night trying to sleep. I kept dreaming about getting an extreme wide angle lens (not a fish-eye). I found myself REALLY wanting one and my dreams were all over the place. At one point I was in a Russian five and dime with some cloak and dagger fellow and he was managing to show me just about everything BUT a camera lens. It was very surreal and I didn’t sleep well.

I am sure this was brought on by a two things. My existing urge to scratch the photo itch with something new and Cynthia getting a new lens for her camera.

Cynthia expressed an interest in doing some low-light photography and I explained that to really do this she would need to consider getting a fast fixed focal length lens. I would have loaned her one of mine gladly, but she has had adopted Pentax as her platform so off I went to The Internet to research and procure something suitable for her camera.

I found the Pentax Wide Angle SMCP-FA 35mm f/2.0 for a good price and figured this would be the thing. Once it arrived and Cynthia started playing with it I was certain we made a good decision. It’s fast and sharp and the pictures are fantastic.

Even before Cynthia started the process that lead to her getting the new lens I had been agonizing over camera decisions. I had started to look at changing platforms and was being tempted by the $300 rebate Nikon was offering on the D300 with the 18-200mm VR lens.

After my fitful night of lens dreams I thought I might just buy the Sony 11-18mm and be done with it. It’s a pricey piece of hardware and buying it would definitely put another nail in my Sony platform coffin. Not necessarily a bad thing as I am enjoying my Sony Alpha 100 and feel confident that Sony is not going to abandon the SLR market. Besides, it should hold most of it’s resale value should worse come to worse.

After discussing this with Cynthia we headed over to the Camera Exchange to talk to our friend Charlie. He said he thought they were out of stock on the lens but after looking through some cabinets produced the last remaining Sony DT 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Aspherical ED Super Wide Angle Zoom Lens they had and I bought it.

I love it. Sure, Tamron has announced they are developing a 10-24mm that is a bit faster but there’s no telling when it will be available, and for how much. I could have waited, I suppose, but this piece of glass is soooo much fun!


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Dooley

Dooley was doing his irritating “hoot” thing from the other room that indicates he’s not getting the attention he feels he deserves.

Cynthia commented that Dooley was being a very bad bird as she does when Dooley gets like this.

I responded by saying “fine, I’ll get rid of Dooley” to which Cynthia replied “but you love Dooley!” and I said “Not anymore” and without missing a beat Dooley said “I love you” in the most pathetic and heartwarming way you could imagine.

I guess I’ll keep him awhile longer…

Baby Loves Disco?

When I first read this I thought Baby Loves Disco must be a hoax or a prank but it looks like the real thing. Imagine your local disco filled up with parents and their toddler, preschoolers and pre-adolescents moving to the groove.

The fun spills out from all corners of the club: bubble machines, baskets of scarves and egg-shakers, a chill-out room (with tents, books and puzzles), diaper changing stations, a full spread of healthy snacks and dancing, LOTS of dancing.

Sounds like a rave for children!

As this video from buzz.mn points out, these folks manage to inculcate in our youth the finer points of bar culture…

I can only imagine that this is a precursor to a much more violent and subversive movement that will inevitably be called Baby Loves Mosh Pits.

I grew up with disco and it’s my cross to bear but I just can’t imagine inflicting it on someone too young to defend themselves.

Hello therapy!

Birdage Report

Blue Jays have been no strangers to our neighborhood but have not really been seen much in our yard despite the ample food in the form of seed and suet. This has changed recently. There’s been a huge Jay coming in from the Magnolia tree in the back of the yard to the feeding area and quickly zooming away. We suspect that one has built a nest either in our back yard or one of the adjacent yards.

He’s quite the site to see.


Photo by Cynthia

On a related note, the House Finches are back and Ricky and Lucy seem to be gearing up to bring us another baby Cardinal.

Today was also our first Hummingbird sighting since putting out the feeders a few weeks ago.

And lastly, a small, fast moving Sapsucker has been sighted in bush outside the front window. I think it’s a male Yellow Bellied. At first I thought it was a Woodpecker due to the very distinct red, black and white markings. He looks like this guy.

Probably the male counterpart to last year’s visitor…

2008 Dragon Boat Festival

Despite the rain warnings on the local news stations, Saturday turned out to be a spectacular day for the 8th Annual Dragon Boat Festival hosted by The Texas Dragon Boat Association downtown at Allen’s Landing.

I’d been meaning to get down there one of these years to see the festival and this was the year.

Cynthia and I got there early and it did look like it was going to rain. We headed up to the top of Fanning street bridge to shoot the early races. This afforded us some unique perspectives and great overview of the whole event…

Ultimately, though, it was sitting under the shade trees on the opposite bank of Buffalo Bayou that presented the best viewing option. We camped there for a few hours and watched the races while taking pictures and hanging out with our friends Barrett and Amanda.

Sgt. Pepper’s

David Blassingame and Steve Candelari put together some 40 Houston musicians to pay tribute to the Beatles with a live performance of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band at the recently opened downtown park Discovery Green on Saturday night.

A horn section, a group of Indian tabla and sitar players, violons and wind instruments all there to play each and every note originally recorded on the original album.

I had missed the first performance of this show when it debuted at The Continental Club last October as I was otherwise occupied. I had heard it was a pretty amazing show and regretted missing it. When I heard that this show was coming I was determined to attend. And since I had not yet been to Discovery Green I had additional incentive.

Arriving at Discovery Green I was amazed at the turn out. The place was packed with people and the mood was very festive. And the fantastic weather didn’t hurt, I’m sure.

The show was quite good. The ensemble of musicians did an awesome job and seemed to be enjoying themselves thoroughly. I did hear that there were sound problems and those in the general audience were treated to some very inconsistent sound management. Fortunately I experienced no such problems from my various vantage points both in front of and behind the stage.

Many, many photogs out and about. Quite a few sporting Nikon D200’s and D300’s along with Canon fans and a whole slew of point and shoot still and video cameras.

Most of my photos are in my personal gallery here. Samples from that gallery are here in my Flickr account.

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